Dr. Brenner (Stranger Things): “Papa”, the man who created Eleven and woke Henry Creel
Character · The scientist · Seasons 1, 2, and 4
Dr. Martin Brenner, whom his subjects call “Papa”, is the scientist of Stranger Things: the man who took Eleven from her mother, raised Henry Creel as a son, and opened, without meaning to, the door to the Upside Down. White hair, a soft voice, a gray suit, he is the evil of the show before the monsters even arrive. This page brings together everything: his program, his children, his fake death, his return in 1986, his real death, and the responsibility season 5 assigns him.
The essentials
- Name: Martin Brenner, director of Hawkins National Laboratory
- Nickname: “Papa,” imposed on every child in the program
- First appearance: season 1 (November 1983)
- Known test subjects: Henry Creel (001), Kali (008), Eleven (011), and the children of the 1979 massacre
- False death: attacked by the Demogorgon at middle school, in 1983
- Played by: Matthew Modine
- Status: shot by soldiers in Nevada in 1986, Eleven refusing to forgive him
Contents
Played by
Matthew Modine
It is Matthew Modine who lends his face to Dr. Brenner (“Papa”) on the show.
Image: Stranger Things series, via strangerthings.fr.
Who is Dr. Brenner?
He speaks softly. That is the first thing you notice about Martin Brenner: he never yells, never hits, never threatens. He says “good” when a little girl crushes a cat with her mind, and “you disappoint me” when she refuses. The children at the lab call him Papa because he taught them to. He is nobody's father, and everyone's torturer.
Director of Hawkins National Laboratory, Brenner has run since the 1970s a program that exploits children with psychic abilities. He numbers them, locks them up, trains them, punishes them in a dark cell. The first is named Henry Creel, taken in after the Creel house tragedy. The eleventh is named Jane, taken from her mother at birth. Between the two, Kali, and others, dead in 1979.
What makes him terrifying is that he thinks he is good. He thinks he is protecting the world, then protecting Eleven, then repairing his mistakes. He dies without having understood that he was the cause of it.
The programBrenner works in the line of mind-control experiments run by the American government in the 1970s, which the show points to by the real name MKUltra. Terry Ives, Eleven's mother, took part while pregnant. The show never says Brenner was looking for a monster: he was looking for a weapon, and he found a door.
In the shop: a piece from the show's universe that goes with this file, chosen by us.
In the shopWomen's 011 T-shirt36,90 €See the product
Brenner season by season
1959-1979Before: Henry, Kali, Eleven
Brenner takes Henry Creel in after the Creel house murders, makes him subject 001, and bridles his powers with a chip. He then recruits other gifted children, including Kali and Eleven, and raises them together. In 1979, Eleven, manipulated by Henry, removes his chip: Henry massacres the children and the staff, Eleven banishes him, and Brenner wipes the little girl's memory. He keeps Eleven, the only useful survivor.
1983Season 1: the gate
Brenner sends Eleven into the Void to spy on the Soviets. She touches a creature there; the lab gate opens. Eleven escapes, and Brenner hunts her across Hawkins with his men, who kill Benny, the cook who took her in, and pass off a fake body as Will's. At the middle school, he catches up with Eleven, begs her to come back. The Demogorgon appears and knocks him down. The show leaves him for dead.
1984Season 2: the shadow
Brenner appears only in Eleven's memories and in Kali's words, as she hunts his former employees. A man, Ray Carroll, claims he is alive. Eleven refuses to believe it.
1986Season 4: NINA and death
He is alive. With Dr. Owens, he runs Project NINA in an old Nevada silo, a deprivation tank that plunges Eleven back into her memories to restore her powers. He makes her relive 1979 and tells her the truth about Henry, who has become Vecna. Eleven gets her abilities back. The army attacks the silo; Brenner, a control collar around Eleven's neck, covers her with his body and is shot. Before dying, he asks her to tell him he did the right thing. She refuses, takes his hand, and leaves.
1987Season 5: the responsibility
Brenner is dead, but season 5 makes him responsible for everything. The group discovers, through his journal, that by forcing Eleven to contact Henry, he created the Upside Down as we know it, and that he served as a bridge toward the Abyss. His notebooks also contain the key to the wall that protects Hawkins. The program continues without him, under the uniform of the army and of Dr. Kay.
What defines him
He never raises his voice. That is what makes his punishments so frightening: the dark cell, the deprivation, the disappointment in his eyes.
The word he imposes on the children, and which binds them to him. Eleven will take three seasons to understand that a father is not chosen that way.
He thinks he is protecting. He opens a gate, wakes Henry, loses his children, and dies asking to be told he did the right thing.
Left for dead in 1983, he comes back in 1986. Brenner is the character the show has the hardest time killing, because his program outlives him.
Key moments
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The black cell
A little girl dragged into a closet with no light for refusing to kill a cat. Papa's face does not move. That is how we learn who he is.
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The fake body
At the morgue, a corpse of cotton and latex in place of Will. Brenner lied to a whole town to cover his gate.
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Middle school, 1983
He catches up with Eleven in a hallway, speaks to her gently, calls her by her number. The Demogorgon appears behind him.
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The silo, 1986
The collar around Eleven's neck, the hand on her shoulder, the soldiers who fire. He falls covering her, and asks to be told he did the right thing.
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The paper, 1987
His notebooks, opened after his death, explain everything: the gate, the Abyss, the wall. Brenner had written it all down, and had understood nothing.
Another piece from the selection: a piece inspired by Dr. Brenner.
In the shopLego Dr. Brenner mini figure14,90 €See the product
Their ties
| Person | What he or she is to Brenner | The key moment |
|---|---|---|
| Eleven | The favorite child, the weapon, the girl he thinks he is protecting | The hand held in Nevada, 1986 |
| Henry Creel | The first test subject, the son who outgrew him | The 1979 massacre |
| Kali | The escaped child, who hunts her former keepers | Chicago, 1984 |
| Terry Ives | The mother he stole Eleven from, reduced to silence by electroshocks | 1974 |
| Sam Owens | The more human successor, then the accomplice of NINA | The Nevada silo |
| Jim Hopper | The man who took his place with Eleven | The adoption of Jane, 1984 |
Not to be confused
| People often say | In reality | The landmark |
|---|---|---|
| Brenner is Eleven's father | He took her from her mother; her father died in Vietnam | Terry Ives |
| Brenner dies in season 1 | The Demogorgon knocks him down; he comes back in 1986 | Project NINA |
| Brenner created Vecna | He took Henry in; season 5 reveals the entity had already contaminated him | The mine briefcase, in season 5 |
| Brenner is a Russian | An American scientist, funded by the government | The national laboratory |
A rarer confusion: Brenner and Owens are not the same man. Owens replaces Brenner at the head of the lab in 1984, more human, more cautious, and it is he who signs Jane Hopper's birth certificate. The two work together in 1986, which has blurred the tracks.
Our Dr. Brenner products
Hawkins Lab inspires some of our visuals: posters and T-shirts inspired by the rainbow room, the tattooed numbers, and the 1983 gate. We pick every piece ourselves, and claim nothing beyond our passion for the show.
To go with your reading: a piece from the show's universe that goes with this file.
In the shop011 keychain12,90 €See the product
Frequently asked questions
Who is Brenner in Stranger Things?
Martin Brenner is the director of Hawkins National Laboratory, the scientist who took Eleven from her mother, raised Henry Creel and about ten other gifted children, and opened the first gate to the Upside Down in 1983 without meaning to. His test subjects call him Papa.
Does Brenner die in season 1?
No, even if the show lets you believe it. Knocked down by the Demogorgon at the middle school in 1983, he reappears in 1986 at the head of Project NINA, in Nevada, where he helps Eleven get her powers back. He is shot by the soldiers during the assault on the silo, covering her with his body.
Why does Eleven call Brenner “Papa”?
Because he demanded it of every child in the program, to bind them to him. Eleven, taken at birth, has known only him. She will take three seasons, and the adoption by Hopper, to understand that a father is not imposed. In Nevada, she refuses to grant him the forgiveness he asks for.
What is the link between Brenner and Vecna?
Brenner took Henry Creel in as a child, made him subject 001, bridled his powers with a chip, and had him work at the lab. In 1979, Henry, freed, massacres the children; Eleven banishes him into the other world, where he becomes Vecna. Brenner then wipes Eleven's memory to hide what happened.
What is Project NINA?
A lab set up in an old Nevada silo, in 1986, where Brenner and Owens plunge Eleven into a sensory deprivation tank to make her relive her memories and restore her powers. That is where she understands who Vecna is, and where Brenner dies.
Who plays Dr. Brenner?
Matthew Modine plays Brenner in seasons 1, 2, and 4. The images on this page come from the show and its promotion; they remain the property of their rights holders.